We just switched my wife over to Android. I've been on Android for two years now. iOS, OS X, Android and Linux are all versions of Unix. It's the shell that changes. Android is closer, in my opinion, to OS X than it is to iOS. It also takes a lot of configuration to get happy. NOT running a cell carrier's bullshit ROM helps a bunch - garden variety Android, or Cyanogen, or any of the cleansed/purged ROMS are a radically better experience. The Play Store will still be a wretched den of scum and villainy and the Emojis will still suck, but it's manageable. Swiftkey is radically better for autocorrect and predictive behavior than the iOS keyboard. Even the stock Android keyboard is better now. For music I currently use Google Music. That will probably change to Plex once I switch to Fi because Fi will hit me for bandwidth, but we'll see. I can't really complain about Google Music, especially since I'm not paying for it. I have 200GB of music and it's all semi-instantly accessible. I've been running a OnePlus One for two and a half years now. In a few weeks I'll be on a Pixel. I don't like paying the price but having run jailbroken Oxygen for two years I'm ready for some updates and compatibility. Adblock is nice but...
Excellent reply, thank you. This and the replies that followed will give me things to research further.
A friend of mine just switched his 5 out for an SE and is quite content with it, so there's that option, although it seems like it might become the last compact phone Apple will ever make. The big advantage to Android is that you can change most of what you see, with the downside that you won't always get the latest features unless you're in the Google phone branch. I think of all Android phones, Samsung has the most refined OS. It might be a good idea to just go into a store and try the S7 out. If you want to look into a wide range of devices, I highly recommend MKBHD's reviews, they're always on point. I've bought my three latest phones and a bunch of other tech mostly based on his reviews.
I decided to switch to Pixel too, but I'm currently on a verizon plan (Mom works for Verizon, so bills are violently cheaper). I heard some obvious negatives about buying through verizon, but it is significantly cheaper that way(For me at least). I'm still looking forward to what google produces with this line of phones though.